KVR Audio

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 3:12 pm

Ian B wrote:How about this, ahem, bargain. All but invisible neck break, but that's purely down to the repair, check the pics

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Axl-Les-Paul-Guit ... 98&afsrc=1

before I did the repair on my Kramer neck (2 pages back in this thread I believe) I did the same exact thing except I used 2 brass strips (the guitar had gold hardware) and I put them along the the upper and lower edges of the headstock. But my hedstock did not break completely off, only a piece of it did. I eventually fixed it using a piece cut from an old jackson style neck that had no fingerboard. I drilled matching holes along the two faces that woule be glued together so I could put three pins in as well.

But you know, my temporary fix worked well enough that I didn't make the actual repair for a couple of years...any port in a storm

lynxx · Post by **lynxx** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 2:38 pm

Hink wrote:thanx Ian...however I cannot find a dealer of them...any suggestions?

Axes R Us have a set Fender Lace for 115 quid, which may be about the same after shipping (or maybe not), they also have Artec pickups, which are from the same factory as GFS, but GFS are tweaked to their specifications.
http://www.axesrus.com/axecart.htm

Kind of ticks me off that there are a couple of European countries they don't ship to and I need a set of black Wilkinson kidney bean machine head pegs, just the buttons. Anyone know of any other place in the EU which sells them?

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 3:25 pm

lynxx wrote:
Hink wrote:thanx Ian...however I cannot find a dealer of them...any suggestions?
Axes R Us have a set Fender Lace for 115 quid, which may be about the same after shipping (or maybe not), they also have Artec pickups, which are from the same factory as GFS, but GFS are tweaked to their specifications.
http://www.axesrus.com/axecart.htm

Kind of ticks me off that there are a couple of European countries they don't ship to and I need a set of black Wilkinson kidney bean machine head pegs, just the buttons. Anyone know of any other place in the EU which sells them?

I was talking about the GFS Neovin pick ups, I have found Fender Noiseless for 110-120 usd. I am interested in the artecs as well, I have three artec QDD2 pre-amps and one artec BCU active tone control

Ian B · Post by **Ian B** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 5:05 am

If I played bass and was after a Fender 59 P Bass Relic WB, the colour description on this one would put me off somewhat

http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_59_p_bass_relic_wb.htm

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 5:16 am

Ian B wrote:If I played bass and was after a Fender 59 P Bass Relic WB, the colour description on this one would put me off somewhat http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_59_p_bass_relic_wb.htm

.......... OMG!

Ian B · Post by **Ian B** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 5:23 am

hibidy wrote:
Ian B wrote:If I played bass and was after a Fender 59 P Bass Relic WB, the colour description on this one would put me off somewhat http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_59_p_bass_relic_wb.htm
.......... OMG!

It could just be honest advertising I suppose

susiwong · Post by **susiwong** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 6:05 am

Ian B wrote:If I played bass and was after a Fender 59 P Bass Relic WB, the colour description on this one would put me off somewhat http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_59_p_bass_relic_wb.htm

They also make them in brown, I heard.

Lol,
susiwong

susiwong · Post by **susiwong** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 6:25 am

Hink wrote:I was talking about the GFS Neovin pick ups, I have found Fender Noiseless for 110-120 usd. I am interested in the artecs as well, I have three artec QDD2 pre-amps and one artec BCU active tone control

Haven't heard those far east PUs yet so I can't judge them, but whenever I have to buy blind/mailorder without realistic money back guarantee I try to go with stuff that's widespread among pros/recording artists/whatever you may call them.
Fender Noiseless or Lace are not the only choice by far, but hey, they work 24/7 for Beck, Townshend, God and many others ...

I have yet to find a single mention of GFS or Artec PUs in pro territory, and it's not like they're new or unknown.
Just saying, I'd never rule them out in case I had a chance for a test drive, but I would rather go for "known good" otherwise.
Ymmv,
susiwong

Btw, it's not because they're cheap, the same applies for untested boutique stuff here as well.

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:31 am

susiwong wrote:
Hink wrote:I was talking about the GFS Neovin pick ups, I have found Fender Noiseless for 110-120 usd. I am interested in the artecs as well, I have three artec QDD2 pre-amps and one artec BCU active tone control
Haven't heard those far east PUs yet so I can't judge them, but whenever I have to buy blind/mailorder without realistic money back guarantee I try to go with stuff that's widespread among pros/recording artists/whatever you may call them.
Fender Noiseless or Lace are not the only choice by far, but hey, they work 24/7 for Beck, Townshend, God and many others ...
I have yet to find a single mention of GFS or Artec PUs in pro territory, and it's not like they're new or unknown.
Just saying, I'd never rule them out in case I had a chance for a test drive, but I would rather go for "known good" otherwise.
Ymmv,
susiwong

I don't disagree, but I do own three artec pre-amps and one artec active tone control. I didn't buy more after trying the first one for any other reason than I was impressed with them. That doesn't mean I'm going to ever buy the pick-ups because Fender pick-ups are not that much either, but if the deal was right I could see myself buying artec single coils and it surely wouldn't be blind in my case. It doesn't matter to me if no one else uses them but artec is also known for their piezo pups and when I was searching for just that for my dulcimer in the world of dulcimers the name artec came up often, as did the korg ga-30 tuner (which I had before the dulcimer)...I went with something cheaper though.

Perhaps you're not hearing any word about them in the 'pro' culture because you're only sampling a very small slice of the 'pros' and you're just not asking the right people. Forgive me but that is the very reason Daion quit making guitars and started making golf clubs, they came up with a process of laminating that was extraordinary. When in fact they were making guitars it was during a period of time where buying Japanes instruments was often met with being ostracized by your peers, people were not buying them because beside Ibanez no one was buying japanese. The company called yamaki went on to make golf clubs likely because there were too many people with the same belief as you. The pros were using Gibson, Fender and they had never heard of Daion (I never heard of Daion before around 2006) so it's best to stick with what clapton and beck used.

Funny thing is now they are sought after and I have no doubt in my mind what so ever that if beck or clapton were here today they would not be complaining while playing the Daion. So again we just have to agree to disagree on how we choose our tools, I prefer what works for me and not others and as an added bonus often forgoing what I'm paying for a name allows me more bang for my buck and the chance to buy other tools as well.

You nor anyone else will ever prove to me that I should give any merit to what the pros use, I have been at this long enough to know what I want, how to get it and you know what? I think I could build some things the pros would also like, but that doesn't matter because only I need to like what I play.

I do not know what is confusing about this, we were rasied different, we're different people and this is a big part of who I am. I was raised by engineers, my father always bought by value (often getting me what I though was inferior products to the name brands my friends had) and teaching me a great lesson.

My step-father (I called him my uncle) bought a three speed bike for me at a yard sale for 5 dollars, the geekiest looking bike ever (even had a geek bell). I hated it at first, then we went to the bike shop and bought a three gear sprocket set and a derailer (plus controls, cool curved handle bars, nice seat etc) and I had this 9 speed bike (when all my friends had 10 speed bikes) for 25% of the cost of the others and I liked it better...it's how I was raised dude and trust me...I think it's one of the greatest gifts anyone gave me...here we call it yankee ingenuity and without it I would be lost. You can't buy that and no 'pro' is going to change my mind nor will you

some stuff on Daion, just too demonstrate what brand name thinking really cost us

http://daionguitar.com/index.php

the one to the far right in the pic is my model (remember I paid 650 for this

http://guitarcollecting.co.uk/2009/05/2 ... n-guitars/

the Daion is a gem and that's just one story of one company that got squashed by such thinking...how about oliver amps? And there are many, many more that I never heard of I'm sure.

beltrom · Post by **beltrom** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:17 am

I kind of never end up with the guitars I think I'm going to buy. This year so far:

* Cort Jade (excellent recording acoustic)
* Cataluna DG (dreadnaught)
* Yourock
* Fender Strat (the vintage white in the link as it turns out)

http://www.music123.com/Guitars/Electri ... 37.product

The last one was just a week ago. I was at the local shop when I halfway noticed someone trading it in as part of payment for an amp. I was first intrigued by the birdseye-maple neck and fingerboard so I asked if I could look at it. Strange logo and Seymour Duncans pu's (very nice ones!) but the store guy assured me it was legit and original, and it was mint, the guy trading it in said he almost never played it so might as well get rid of it. For me it was a great player and I had to have it! It's really funny how some guitars works for one person but not for the next. I have an Ibanez 2370 that some friends of mine loves, but I just can't get it to sing. Feels like it hates me, and I would sell it if it wasn't for nostalgia and stubborness.

I really was only planning on buying something "Les Pauly" this year, one of the Hagstrom Swede-models maybe. Nothing Stratocaster and definately not acoustic. The closest thing to a Les Paul so far is getting my DeArmond back from my son. * sigh *

susiwong · Post by **susiwong** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:38 am

Hink,
you kinda missed the most important line :

whenever I have to buy blind/mailorder without realistic money back guarantee

, point is, I personally have the option of trying at home without risking a cent both @ my local store as well as @ my main mailorder companies, more than enough stuff there I haven't tried yet to keep me busy.

Plus all the gear that colleagues bring here to try out, set up, fix ...
I've played my share of PUs other than those (must be more than 100) I owned myself over 35+ years.
Others may not be so lucky, my advice was geared at them.
When trying out unknown stuff I'm not too proud to take the experience of the greats (and most other people I know fwiw) into account.
I reserve the "trying out unknown stuff" part for occasions with hands-on experience or money back.
Peace,
susiwong

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 5:09 pm

susiwong wrote:Hink,
you kinda missed the most important line :
whenever I have to buy blind/mailorder without realistic money back guarantee
, point is, I personally have the option of trying at home without risking a cent both @ my local store as well as @ my main mailorder companies, more than enough stuff there I haven't tried yet to keep me busy.
Plus all the gear that colleagues bring here to try out, set up, fix ...
I've played my share of PUs other than those (must be more than 100) I owned myself over 35+ years.
Others may not be so lucky, my advice was geared at them.
When trying out unknown stuff I'm not too proud to take the experience of the greats (and most other people I know fwiw) into account.
I reserve the "trying out unknown stuff" part for occasions with hands-on experience or money back.
Peace,
susiwong

I didn't miss your point at all...I can only think of one time I bought something 'blind' and ironically it was the Daion. I had not heard of them, it was a member here who is listed as a mod but hasn't been around for a while (muff wiggler) and he had been trying to sell the Daion in marketplace for a while. I looked into the guitars, had some good pictures to go by from MW and my exact thought was "it looks very nice, I like what I am reading about them so I know they have value and if i dont like it there is no doubt I will either make it how I like it or sell it".

I recall MW (but it was a while ago...like maybe 04) complaining about a guitar with a hum in it and us giving him all kind of suggestions. I didn't put one and one together until I got the guitar, plugged it in and it hummed badly. I then looked at the bridge pick-up which I already knew was a duncan invader and I knew before I took the cover off the back what the problem was. I'll leave this question open for a while...does anyone have a guess why there was hum...hint 'seymour duncan pick-up'?

Like with any used guitar I buy I ordered all new pots, new jack (the jack was in rough shape) and of course shielded the cavity, during that time I also fixed the very obvious issue. Somewhere on my old laptop I have pics of before and after, I also changed the big ugly metal knobs with the ones that are on it now (but kept the others, I think MW is still mad at me for not sending him the knobs like I originally intended to do) and I also changed the black switch knob with one that was cream and looked aged.

I do not like to buy things that I cannot return though because of my best friend who I grew up learning guitar with I rarely return things...he returns 90% of what he buys, has since he was a kid and has been blackballed at countless stores including musician's friend. If it's under 100 dollars I will roll the dice, if it's more the very last thing I am going to do is take the advice of a stranger third hand and by buying what a pro uses that is exactly what I am doing in my eyes. I dont have the same tastes as many of my friends, why would I pressume that I have the same taste as a 'pro'?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with going that route, I just dont...maybe because when I saw Rick Derringer I saw all those Peaveys and a rack of marshalls that he 'really' used. Maybe it's because I know the story behind Street Fighting Man, maybe it's because I grew up a huge Queen fan, maybe it's because of the old addage dont believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.

I'm sorry dude, I keep saying we have to agree to disagree on this subject because we're never going to agree (which is fine, in fact it's fantastic because that is what makes strong friendships and what makes the world go around) I just do not believe that if it's good enough for the pros it's good enough for me...in fact for years I would by default look at that exactly opposite...I'm not worthy of what the pros use yet.

Three weeks from Monday I will celebrate the day I got my first guitar, it will be 40 years. Much of that time I never could afford more than one guitar and one amp/cab. In 2005 for the very first time in my life I paid more than 500 dollars for a guitar (this is documented here in KvR's past but I'm not searching for it

) and I am proud of my growth over those 40 years.

In a case (a very large case) sits the most expensive guitar I ever bought, a Jackson...which the pros use and one I hardly touch. Dude this is one of the key things that make me, me and I'm extremely proud of it. I do not follow trends, I do not care about status symbols, I do not keep up with the jone's and smith's...I am my own man (but quited flawed).

There are two guitars that certain pros used that I would love to have. Jeff becks broadcaster that is worn to shit (I would not want a nice one, I love the way it looks) and Willie Nelson's guitar with a hole in it.

So no I did not miss your point, it has nothing to do with being too proud to look to pros...it has everything to do with "how does a pro know what's best for me". These posts are already endless, I could type pages after pages going back to long before I played guitar of examples of this very thing in my life playing out over and over. It's who I am, and you are who you are...I respect and admire you tremendously (and care for you a lot as you know) and I would not want you to be any other way

btw I too have a lot of options to try out things first, have probably played as many different things as you having been in retail and my advice is also geared to others...dont look at the name, go with your heart and if anyone faults you for that it's not your problem as long as you are happy with what you have.

YMMV or really YMDV, but I still love yah dude

edit: btw I never said I would not take the advice of those people I know (like yourself and many others), you just threw that in there now...I always listen to the advice of my friends, that is important to me. BTW after buying the Daion I got a call from MW, he was in a music store trying to decide between a Fender and a G&L and called for my advice. He did take that advice and if you search this hardware forume you will find he followed it twice because he liked the first guitar he bought so much.

susiwong · Post by **susiwong** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 6:44 pm

Hello Hink,
sure, disagreement is the fuel of discussion, kvr could go home without it.

Like you I get easily bored with people who agree all the time ...
So no worries, all is well, mate !

I know you're as selective about gear as me, sometimes the criteria are different, obviously.

However, I wouldn't want my above post to be misunderstood for advocating mainstream gear over lesser known stuff per se, it goes a bit deeper than that.

And looking at my personal guitar gear collection, it's about 1/3 mainstream legends, 1/3 small brands and 1/3 custom built/modded gear, I can live with that.

Re Seymour Duncan, are you talking about green or black ?

Classic ...

Have a nice weekend, you all,
susiwong

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:14 pm

With Seymour Duncans as with other brands it's often up to who does the wiring. If it's NoClueJoe expect problems. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstrat

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:09 pm

yeah, why duncan did that I'll never understand...but green is ground and black is the hot wire

TBH to make that mistake even ten years ago is excusable, but now with the internet and any wiring diagram being about 10 seconds away?

Mike my Warmoth is about the same value as EVH's was at the time, the story on that was I was working in a small mom and pop chain (4 stores) and a guy came in selling the parts but the guitar was not put together. I bought it for stupid cheap and got royally reamed out by my boss but I assured him I would put it together and it would sell. He told me if it didn't sell I owed him what it cost him and it didn't sell...I took it home cut the pickgaurd for my EMG 81 (from the early 80s) and an 89 I bought from the store I worked at...that was 1998 and I still believe I was the winner there

My first real mod was when I put an EH Muff Fuzz in my 72 tele custom (I could not find a bigger pic)

I took it apart and cut a slot for the switch (customs have the big pickguards), after it hummed and hummed so bad. My father came home, checked everything out and was confused because he couldn't solve the mystery either....until he looked at his lamp and remembered it was on a dimmer

Your next guitar?